Voice of Reason: Missing Kaku: Did the punishment fit the crime? [Editorial]

There are folks in the soccer community that are even now howling at the moon wondering why there wasn’t a longer and harsher suspension for one Alejandro Sebastian Romero Gamarra, otherwise called “Kaku” to his friends, fans and now detractors (with some even calling for a full season ban), are blatantly confusing recklessness with intent.

Allow me to explain here…

Doing something recklessly is normally done with very little or without any amount of critical thinking. Doing something with intent, however, the act is usually premeditated.

That’s the difference.

Let’s be clear: What he did was drop-dead inexcusable, both as a player and more importantly as a professional. But he did it in the heat of the moment. Frustrated on how the match was going and not receiving a pass from a teammate, Kaku lost his mind, thus behaved very recklessly, his actions resulted in an innocent paying customer getting a soccer ball smashed into his face at point-blank range.

No doubt about it, that’s as serious as it gets. We all know this. But if there was any evidence that Kaku intended to do that, then the league would be absolutely justified in handing out a much lengthier suspension. Anything past that point, is purely speculative and should be dismissed accordingly.

So if you add the one game ban that he already received from getting a red card with the two additional games, that’s three games. Due to his actions, the New York Red Bulls will be without his services in the midfield for nearly a month. Maybe for the better.

Don’t forget, the club may also punish him for conduct unbecoming a representative of the team. Those conditions do exists as well as it is written in his contract.

Therefore, the punishment did indeed fit the crime.

As I said out loud when it happened: It was the most dumbest, moronic, petulant and absolutely stupidest thing to do. And once even HE realized what a horrific mistake he made, he showed remorse during and after the incident. Apologized to the fan personally, and to everyone and the teams via social media.

Now that the suspensions have been handed down, he’s going to be on the shelf cooling his jets for a while, and while doing, he’ll learn from this, Hoping that he can move on with this…

And in truth, so should we. Onward to Saturday, cool kids. See you all at The Cathedral.